chips

China’s future in the chips industry is in the hands of a single company almost unknown: Sicarrier

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Sicarrier is not a Chinese company. When we repair the country’s semiconductor industry led by Xi Jinping probably many of us think of companies like Huawei, SMICHua Hong semiconductor or Naura Technologyamong others. But not in Sicarrier. Until just a few weeks this company It was a real unknown Beyond China’s borders, but in a record time it has attracted the attention of the global industry of integrated circuits. And he has done it for a weight reason: it is the authentic responsible for China currently having the ability to produce avant -garde chips. Although it was founded in 2021, during the last four years Sicarrier has maintained a very low profile. Its origin is not entirely clear, but The most reliable sources They collect that this company is probably a huawei split. What we know for sure is that it is a state company administered by the Shenzhen government. Sicarrier’s soul are veteran engineers of ASML and Applyed Materials I will not prolong the mystery more: Sicarrier is dedicated to designing and manufacturing photolithography equipment and wafering processing machines. In fact, the more than 30 products that it has presented just a few weeks ago in SemiCon China 2025 competes with the solutions of the Dutch company ASMLthe Japanese Tokyo Electron or the American Apply materials. It is shocking that a company with just four years already has proposals capable of competing in the market of chips manufacturing equipment. But it seems to have earned it. Whatever this presumable success is not the result of chance. And is that his main team is led by engineers with more than two decades of experience in the ranks of ASML and Applyed Materials. In fact, these technicians are surely responsible for the milestone for which Sicarrier is probably in the spotlight of the US administration: the technology used by Huawei and SMIC for MANUFACT 7 NM INTEGRATED CIRCUITS derives from a patent that seeks to make the production of 5 Nm chips possible using equipment from deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). The technology used by Huawei and SMIC to make 7 Nm chips derives from a patent from Sicarrier The most ambicious lithography equipment by Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers is the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine (UVE). ASML is the only company that produces them, but THE SANCTIONS TO CHINA DE USA They prevent you from giving it to your Chinese clients. The problem is that this equipment is necessary to produce on a large scale and with a competitive price semiconductors of 7 Nm or with even more advanced integration technologies. Sicarrier has not presented a UVE photolithography team in China 2025. It is very unlikely to have it, but, at the same time, it is reasonable to anticipate that their engineers will be working on a machine of these characteristics. The teams that this company has already made known, or, at least, has officialized, are A 28 Nm immersion lithography machinean engraving equipment for advanced nodes below 7 Nm, diffusion machines for rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition equipment for nodes of 28 to 5 Nm, verification machines and test for advanced integrated circuits, etc. The retahíla of lithography and wafering processing that Sicarrier has presented in Semi -Con China 2025 is long. As I mentioned a few lines above, these products compete with the proposals of ASML, Applied Materials or Tokyo Electron, although the authentic Sicarrier fire test will be the tuning of a UVE lithography machine. Du liqun, the president of this company, has declared that its strategy requires betting on the development of avant -garde lithography equipment, selective deposition machines and latest generation transist technologieslike ga (Gate-alall-around), which is already part of the Porfolio of TSMC, Intel and Samsung. It is still early to identify if Sicarrier will live up to the expectations it has generated, but there is no doubt: there is a new actor in the integrated circuit industry. And it is worth following the track very closely. Image | Sicarrier More information | Nomad semi In Xataka | This is China’s big problem with chips: Huawei will manufacture its Kirin X90 for PC using the 7 Nm of SMIC

The European Chips Law will fail. The European Court of Accounts believes that it is very unlikely to succeed

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On February 8, 2022 Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced that the old continent wants to be a fundamental actor in The semiconductor industryand the first step to achieve it requires manufacturing 20% of the planet chips in 2030. The CHIPS ACT Directive mobilizes up to 43,000 million euros between public and private investment to make it possible, and the still little tangible Integrated circuit plants that Intel and TSMC have programmed on German soil are two key pieces on this itinerary. Despite its similarities, the US plan paints better than that of Europe. The country led by Donald Trump has an integrated circuit manufacturing infrastructure more solid than that of the old continent. In addition, Intel, TSMCSamsung, Texas Instruments and Globalfoundries are some of the companies that are already putting new avant -garde plants on American soil. And the US government seems to be determined to invest all the money that is needed to achieve the leadership position to which it aspires. The Court of Accounts report gives Europe a reality bathroom Europe needs to be ambitious if it wants to increase its relevance in the semiconductor industry. Have Asml and Intel facilities, Globalfoundries, and presumably in the future also of TSMC, within its borders he plays in his favor. However, the speech of European leaders, among which are Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner of Internal Market and Services, seems to be focused on the quantity, and is not enough. The quality understood as the capacity of a chip to deliver added value is also fundamental. The automotive and appliance industry are two of those that are essentially nourished by relatively simple integrated circuits, and it is important that Europe produces them. However, it is also essential that In European soil, avant -garde chips are manufactured such as those that require, for example, data centers and research centers artificial intelligence (AI). Otherwise Europe will continue to depend on the plants located abroad to be competitive in this strategic ecosystem. “We are currently far from the pace necessary to meet our ambitions. The 20% objective was basically an aspiration” As we have anticipated in the holder of this article, the European Court of Accounts, which is nothing other than “the financial guardian” of the European Union, has published A very thorough report in which he argues that the objective of achieving a 20% share in the world market of integrated circuits in 2030 seems unattainable. And this means that “it is very unlikely that the European Union achieves its objective.” At the current situation, as we have verified in the first paragraphs of this article, this conclusion is perfectly credible. The Court of Auditors points out some interesting ideas in which we are being briefly stopped. Annemie Turtelboom, the head of this audit, He maintains that “The European Union needs a dose of reality in its strategy for the microchips sector (…) This is a field that changes rapidly, is characterized by its intense geopolitical competence, and currently We are far from the necessary rhythm To fulfill our ambitions. The 20% objective was basically an aspiration. To achieve this, our production capacity would have to be four times higher in 2030 and we are far from achieving those figures at the current speed. “ However, the production capacity they currently have and will have chips manufacturers established in Europe in Europe is not the only problem. The Court of Accounts points something that is important that we do not overlook: access to raw materials that are necessary to produce semiconductors, such as Rare earths; The cost of energy and geopolitical tensions further hinder the European Union plan. And, of course, the Chinese chips industry, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the US will not stop their growth, so these countries will not easily give market share. We will see what happens during the next five years, but objectively the panorama does not paint well for Europe. Image | TSMC More information | European Court of Accounts In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be. The machine that will manufacture them is close

It will exempt some American chips from retaliation tariffs

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On April 11, the Chinese government announced that it would apply some 125% tariffs to the products imported from the US. This measure was the expected response after the government led by Donald Trump gradually increased taxes About Chinese imports until reaching 145%. The commercial war had just entered its cruel phase, but shortly after, on April 14, the US decided to give a provisional respite to The technology industry. And it is that the Trump administration temporarily paralyzed tariffs linked to The import of semiconductorselectronic devices and some strategic components. Just a few hours ago the Xi Jinping government He has responded using the same US tone: exempting tariffs at least eight different categories of integrated circuits manufactured in the country governed by Donald Trump. Interestingly, memory chips are still in force. China has chosen to reduce tension and protect its supply chain The Chinese administration has taken approximately two weeks to approve this exemption from the moment it announced the implementation of the 125% tariffs to the products imported from the US, but has remedied it. Customs authorities have informed Chinese companies that tariffs that have paid between April 10 and 24 for semiconductors who are now exempt from taxes will be returned to them. The longevity of this measure will be linked to the decisions that the US government will make during the next weeks At the moment we do not know how long this measure will last, but in all likelihood its longevity will be linked to The decisions you will make during the next few weeks The US government. In fact, the latter has anticipated that within a period not exceeding two months will announce to which tariffs they will be subjected Imported chips. In any case, this decision has two very beneficial consequences for China. On the one hand it relieves the pressure on their own economy by allowing their companies to import without additional taxes some critical integrated circuits that at the moment do not produce the manufacturers of local semiconductors. In addition, at the current situation this strategy allows China to protect its own supply chain. If all the chips designed or manufactured in the US had a 125% tariff load the tension to which it would be subjected China’s supply chain would be hardly bearable. All probability this would trigger a critical chip shortage that would degrade the competitiveness of Chinese companies. This measure of the Xi Jinping government is clearly a tactical adjustment. It maintains the pressure on some chips from the US, but, at the same time, it avoids shortage in its internal market for essential integrated circuits. More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has a new hydrogen pump. It is so destructive that it seems nuclear

We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be. The machine that will manufacture them is close

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If everything goes as planned Intel will have its lithography 14a (1.4 Nm) List in 2026. It will be the first integration technology of this company that will use the equipment of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) and AL ASML opening. TSMC and Samsung have already confirmed that They will also bet on this machinebut for now it is Intel who carries the lead. In fact, it has been about a year and a half Testing it in its Hillsboro plant (USA). The engineers of the Dutch Company ASML have invested a decade in the development of the technology necessary to put this machine ready, which, in reality, is a high -generation extreme ultraviolet lithography team. This company of the Netherlands plans to deliver to its customers annually from 2025 about 20 teams of this type with one purpose: put in their hands the possibility of producing 2 nm chips And beyond. Much further. After the High-no lithography equipment, the Hyper-NA machines will arrive To develop the UVE Lithography team (EUV high-na for its acronym in English) ASML engineers have put a very advanced optical architecture that has an opening of 0.55 compared to the 0.33 value that the first generation UVE lithography equipment has. This refinement of the optics allows to transfer to the wafer patterns of greater resolution, hence it is possible to manufacture chips using more advanced integration technologies than those currently used in the nodes of 2 and 3 Nm. In the article we dedicate to Rayleight criteria We explain in a lot of detail what the ‘Na’ parameter consists (Numerical Aperture), But in this text it is enough for us to know that this variable identifies The opening value of the optics Used by the lithographic equipment. In this context this parameter essentially reflects the same as the opening value when we talk about The optics of a photo cameraso it conditions the amount of light that the optical elements They are able to collect. As we can intuit, the more light gathens, the better. A single UVE Machine of haute opening is capable of producing more than 200 wafers per hour However, this is not all. ASML has also improved the mechanical systems that are responsible for the manipulation of wafers with the purpose of making it possible for a single UVE Machine to be able to produce more than 200 wafers per hour. This benefit is very important for semiconductor manufacturers because it deeply conditions its competitiveness. If we want to investigate to show what is beyond the Uve haute opening teams, the ideal is that we turn to Imec, an integrated circuit research center founded in 1984 and lodged in Leuven (Belgium). It is the most experienced laboratory in the tuning of new integration technologies that we have in Europe. In fact, their engineers work side by side with ASML technicians. The slide we publish on top of these lines contains a lot of interesting information. According to IMEC in 2035 integrated circuit manufacturers will begin large -scale production of 3 angstroms chips (0.3 Nm). This milestone is very important because presumably these will be the first semiconductors made of UVE lithography equipment Hyper-na In which Asml is already working. However, of course, these machines will not arrive that year; They will be ready much earlier. That will be the time when Chips manufacturers will start large -scale production, but possibly this machine will be prepared at the end of this decade. Whatever the interesting thing is that the opening of the optics of these avant -garde lithography equipment will be, again according to IMEC, of ​​0.75 in the face of the opening of 0.55 of the UVE machines of high opening, or 0.33 in the conventional UVE equipment, as we have seen a few lines above. In any case, the itinerary of this laboratory anticipates that In 2037 the integrated circuits of 2 angstroms will arriveand in 2039 chips manufacturers will pass this barrier and go beyond the 2 angstroms. It seems science fiction, but it is not. It’s just science. Image | IMEC More information | IMEC In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

Russia plans to manufacture its own 28 Nm chips in 2030. It will continue to be light years from the US and its allies

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The relationship sustaining USA and Russia is disturbing. The interests of the administration led by Joe Biden They seemed hardly reconcilable with those of the Government of Vladimir Putin, but Donald Trump’s return to the White House The rules of the game have changed. It had been many years that the interests of Russia and the US were not as aligned as they seem to be now. At this situation it would not be strange for Trump -led administration to Advanced lithography equipment. At the moment it is only an elucubration, but in the current circumstances it is not a far -fetched possibility. Anyway Russia has a plan to reinforce your semiconductor industry and reduce their dependence on foreign technologies. In October 2024 the Ministry of Industry and Commerce announced that it will invest 2,540 million dollars until 2030 in the development of own photolithography machines that allow it to become independent of foreign powers. Within the framework of the Russian economy it is an important expense that in the medium term seeks to develop the ability to make chips of 28 nm. Russia says you are already making chips with its first UVE lithography team At the end of May Vasily Shpak, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Russian Federation, advertisement During the conference “Industrial Russia Digital Industry” that your country already has prepared its first team of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE). In addition, Shpak confirmed that its construction is entirely Russian, and, more importantly, it also anticipated that this first UVE machine is capable of manufacturing integrated circuits of 350 nm. In 2026 Russia should have a prototype of UVE equipment capable of manufacturing 130 nm chips The really important thing is that Russia apparently already has the necessary technology to tuning these photolithography machines. From here their engineers and physicists can gradually refine their technology to make possible the production of more advanced integrated circuits. In fact, it is fair What the Russian government plans to do. And its itinerary establishes that in 2026 Russia should have a prototype of UVE lithography equipment capable of manufacturing 130 nm chips. And in 2028 another similar one trained to produce integrated 7 nm circuits. However, it is important that we do not overlook that this itinerary does not describe the moment in which Russia will acquire the ability to manufacture these large -scale integrated circuits. This will be the really relevant milestone. Whatever the Russian medium COMNEWS He has collected statements from Konstantin Trushkin, the deputy director of development of the MCST CPU Design Company, in which this engineer argues that Russia will have plants capable of producing large -scale integrated circuits of 28 Nm between 2028 and 2030. This purpose is credible, but by then presumably TSMC, Intel and Samsung will already have the capacity to manufacture in a massive way 1 Nm semiconductor. More information | COMNEWS In Xataka | China needs to develop a new type of immune chips to US sanctions. And their scientists have just achieved it

It cannot guarantee that their avant -garde chips will not arrive in China

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TSMC faces a crossroads. At the current situation of tension between the US and China this Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, The Major on the Planethe has chosen to develop drastically Your production infrastructure In the country led by Donald Trump. This strategy will allow you dodge future tariffs which presumably will apply to the integrated circuits produced abroad. However, this is not all. In addition, having more manufacturing plants and more advanced packaging centers in the US will allow TSMC to better protect your business if in the future it is triggered A war conflict between China and Taiwan. In these circumstances it is evident that the company led by CC Wei is interested in sustaining an affable relationship with the US. However, their ties are currently committed because of the integrated circuits manufactured by TSMC that are arriving in China. TSMC has been sincere with the US This semiconductor manufacturer is subject to an investigation by the US Department of Commerce Since October 2024. The organization that then led Gina Raimondo suspected that this company could have secretly reached agreements with Huawei to take care of the manufacture of its semiconductors for smartphones and applications of artificial intelligence (AI). In December 2024 TSMC broke its commercial relationship with Powerair, a Singapore company that, apparently, was responsible for delivering to Huawei the chip manufactured by TSMC that appeared on the card for the Ascend 910b. Interestingly, this was the second company presumably responsible for getting to Huawei Integrated circuits produced by TSMC. In 2023 this last company stopped offering its manufacturing service to the Chinese Chips Design Company Sophgo to illegally mediate with Huawei. TSMC could receive a fine of one billion dollars, or even more, from the US Department of Commerce However, their problems did not end here. At the beginning of last March the CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies), An American organization that is dedicated to elaborating strategies that seek to guarantee the security of the US, accused TSMC having manufactured indirectly for Huawei for 2024 no less than two million chips of the Ascend 910. With these integrated circuits this Chinese company could have produced a huge amount of units of its ascend 910c solution, which is currently its hardware for the most advanced. As we explain in early April, TSMC could receive a fine of one billion dollars, or even more, of the Department of Commerce. US regulation establishes that in this context the sanction can ascend twice the value of the transactions that have violated export restrictionswhat could place this fine as one of the highest in history for this type of infraction. TSMC has recently published its last annual report and has not let out the opportunity to explain to the US Administration What is your position in this conflict: “Our role in the semiconductor supply chain inherently limits our visibility and the information we have about the final use or the end user of the products that incorporate chips manufactured by us. This limitation hinders our ability to fully guarantee that the semiconductors we produce are not diverted to an endless use or user avoid controls. ” It is likely that the US responds to this TSMC statement very soon. We will keep you aware of everything. Image | TSMC More information | TSMC In Xataka | The US tariffs are already hurting two of the companies that support Taiwan’s economy: TSMC and Foxconn

A critical component of current chips manufacturing machines

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The teams of extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) that manufactures the Dutch company ASML are extraordinarily sophisticated. In fact, they are those currently using TSMC, Samsung, Intel, Sy Hynix and Micron Technology for produce integrated avant -garde circuits. They are so complex that during the first phases of their design in the early 90s of the last century, ASML engineers They believed it was impossible. However, everything changed in 1997. That year Jos Benschop, the leader of the research department, reassess whether UNVE technology was a viable option. After the first tests he realized that The German company Zeiss He was able to develop extraordinarily sophisticated mirrors that would be necessary to transport ultraviolet light. And he was not wrong. That was the real starting point of technology that has made it possible for our mobile phones and computers to have such advanced chips. Zeiss’s feat arrived in the 90s One of the most complex elements of UVE lithography machines is The ultraviolet light source. The company of American origin Cymer, although since 2013 it is not an independent company. That year ASML executives decided to buy it to accelerate the development of the technologies involved in UVE lithography. An interesting note: the ultraviolet light is responsible for transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask so that it can be transferred with a lot of precision to the surface of the silicon wafer. Understanding what is the mask is simple: it is nothing other than a physical template that contains the design of the integrated circuit that is necessary to transfer to the Silicon wafer. In any case, there is another component without whose intervention It is not possible to carry out this crucial task. Other components, in plural, in reality, although all of them are of the same type. It is precisely the mirrors that Jos Benschop suspected in 1997 that Zeiss could produce. The light of 11.4 nm was discarded because it forced to use beryllium in the mirrors and is a toxic chemical element The role of the optical elements of this company in these lithography equipment is crucial. And it is because they are responsible for moving the UVE light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm from the source that is responsible for its emission to the mask contained in the geometric pattern that is necessary to translate into the silicon wafer. If the mirrors involved in the propagation of the UVE light are not manufactured with enormous precision the geometric pattern defined by the mask will be altered, and the chips will be damaged. Interestingly, the choice of the wavelength of the UVE light used by these machines was a very delicate decision. Initially the engineers involved in their tuning had four possible options: 13.5 nm, 11.4 nm, 6.6 nm and 4.8 nm. These last two wavelengths were finally ruled out due to the limitations they imposed Organic photorestoning materials. The light of 11.4 Nm was also discarded because it forced to use beryllium in the mirrors, and is a toxic chemical element. The wavelength of 13.5 Nm required to introduce molybdenum and silicon mirrors, but these elements do not pose any problem. This is the reason why UVE machines work with this light. In any case, this data clearly reflects the extraordinary level of precision with which it is necessary to manufacture the mirrors: Zeiss uses argon ions and other elements to polish layer per layer at the atomic level the mirrors, and then identifies and corrects the defects using a subnustric analysis technique. This last tool is capable of detecting defects with a lower precision than a nanometer (less than a millmillonieth part of a meter). * Some price may have changed from the last review Image | Zeiss BIBLIOGRAPHY | ‘Focus: The Asml Way’by Marc Hijink More information | Zeiss | Asianometry In Xataka | 2024 has been a year full of uncertainty for chip designers. So much that the market has changed leader

TSMC will manufacture its best chips on American soil, although presumably they will be 30% more expensive

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Taiwan’s silicon shield It has definitely fallen. The government of this island was determined to protect its economic interests preventing TSMC from manufacturing integrated circuits abroad using your most advanced lithography nodes. This plan entered into conflict with the expansionist strategy of the semiconductor manufacturer most important on the planetespecially at a juncture in which the US is forcing the displacement of chips manufacturers to their own territory. “Since Taiwan has regulations that seek to protect their own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2 nm chips abroad today,” Jw Kuo saidMinister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, on November 8 during a meeting of the Taipéi Economy Committee. “Although TSMC PLANS MANUFACTURE 2 NM CHIPS Abroad in the future, its central technology will remain in Taiwan. “ Kuo’s statements reflected at that time that TSMC could not produce integrated 2 Nm circuits in the US or Europe until it was ready its lithography A14 (1.4 Nm). From that moment the latter would remain in Taiwan and could move the production of 2 Nm chips to other countries. For TSMC this restriction was a problem. And it was because the demand for its most advanced integrated circuits is very high because of the undoubted success that semiconductors are having for applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Chips manufactured by TSMC in the US will be 30% more expensive, according to Walter Bloomberg Finally, the Taiwan government has moderated its protectionist strategy. Jw Kuo He pronounced again In the middle of last January to declare that TSMC may produce 2 Nm chips in its US plants, although the Taiwanese administration will cautiously evaluate the use of this technology in the country led by Donald Trump. “Private companies must make their own commercial decisions covered in their own technological progress (…) TSMC is building factories in the US with the purpose of serving their US clients because 60% of the world’s chips designer companies are based precisely in the US. “ Lisa su and CC Wei have taught the first EPYC ‘Venice’ chip produced in the N2 (2 nm) node of TSMC Today, just four months later, we can be sure that the manufacture of integrated 2 NM circuits on a large scale in the TSMC plants in Arizona (USA) will arrive. Lisa her, the general director of AMD, and CC Wei, the president and general director of TSMC, have taught the first Epyc Chip ‘Venice’ produced in node N2 (2 nm) of this last company. This CPU has been manufactured in Taiwan, but both managers They have confirmed their commitment When strengthening the production of the plants that TSMC is putting ready in Arizona. The first of these factories is about to produce large -scale chips, but its plan does not end here. The second plant will be operational in 2028 and will produce integrated circuits in N3 (3 Nm) and N2 (2 Nm) nodes. And finally, the third factory will not be listed at all until the end of this decade and will produce chips in the N2 (2 nm) node. At the current situation and under the pressure of the US government, which is Pertrechado with its tariff policyit is very likely that the production of 2 Nm semiconductors in Arizona arrives long before 2028. It is not official information, but in the current circumstances it is a very reasonable forecast. However, there is something else that is worth not overlooking. According to G. Dan HutchesonAnalyst in Techinsights, producing a 300 mm wafer in the new Arizona plant costs TSMC less than 10% more than manufacturing that same wafer in one of its Taiwan facilities. It is explained by something that we should not overlook: the cost derived from labor represents less than 2% of the total cost. However, according to the financial journalist Walter Bloomberg TSMC will increase the price of integrated circuits produced by 30% in the US to compensate for the costs triggered by tariffs on the production equipment of imported chips from Europe and Japan. The Government led by Donald Trump has not yet revealed how the import tariffs of photolithography machines used by TSMC, Intel or Samsung plants in the US will affect the import tariffs. Will do it within a period Not exceeding two months. But it seems that Bloomberg assumes that the increase in chips will arrive. We’ll see. Image | TSMC More information | Walter Bloomberg | Tom’s hardware In Xataka | The US confesses its worst nightmare: if China invades taiwan and controls TSMC the US economy will go to pique

In full protectionist withdrawal, Xiaomi wants to be the new huawei and knows where to start: with its own chips

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Huawei has become in recent years The best example to follow by Chinese manufacturers. It has been the first company to achieve full self -sufficiency (Understanding this as the manufacture of the product does not depend on companies outside of China), and marking a new line that the rest of the competitors want to follow. Chinese sources They point out that Xiaomi has just created a new department for Chips’s own development, with a former Qualcomm executive leading it. The intention is clear: Xiaomi wants to be the next Chinese manufacturer to mark the way. A new focus. According to Suehome Xiaomi sources, a new chips development department is establishing under the command of Qin Muyun, former product director at Qualcomm. The company would be allocating resources to meet something that Huawei has been chasing for years: its own manufacturing to reduce dependence with giants such as MediaTak or Qualcomm. Xiaomi already knows this path. In 2017 Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi Mi 5cthe company’s first phone with the chip S1 arises. It was the first time that Xiaomi, along with Pinecone Electronics, launched a phone with a chip of own development. The Mi 5C was the only phone to use it, comparable to a Snapdragon of the 626 series, and functioning as a strategic experiment rather than a model to follow. Beyond co-processors. Since 2017, Xiaomi has focused on the development of coprocessors. In 2021 the market was released Mix fold With the arise C1, an ISP (image processor) of Xiaomi. The arise P1 was the co-processor aimed at managing energy tasks during fast charge, trained in the Xiaomi 12 Pro. And models like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra They arrived with the G1 arise, also in charge of energy tasks. Since then, Xiaomi has not resumed the development of a complete chip. Something that could be looking for the new investment. The arduous task of developing its own processor. Developing chips is very expensive. So much, that TSMC has just announced increases of 30% due to the tariff war between the United States and China. With a lot of help from SMICthe main Chinese semiconductor giant, brands like Huawei have achieved the independence of TSMC. Xiaomi would need the help of the Chinese government (fiscal exemptions, bonuses and direct aid) to manufacture their own chips with the help of SMIC, something that would help him reduce dependence with the American TSMC. An example to follow. If Xiaomi manages to follow Huawei’s steps and become a company capable of producing its own chips, the Chinese industry will be hitting the table again. Hardware is not the only key, Xiaomi is committed to Hyperos with hardly any mentions of Android. He understands it as its own software, an ecosystem to be implemented in any consumption product. The tariff storm is torpedoing the Big Tech strategywith China seeking to reduce dependence on US companies and vice versa. Achieving this is not viable in the short term, but the door has been opened to a change in the consumer industry as we know it. Image | Xataka In Xataka | If the question is “how tariffs are going to affect the price of mobiles”, none of the answers is optimistic

Particle accelerators to make chips

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The photolithography equipment that designs and produces The Dutch Company ASML They are extraordinarily complex. These integrated circuit manufacturing machines have many sophisticated components, but one of the most advanced is, without a doubt, The ultraviolet light source. Its purpose is to generate extreme ultraviolet radiation (UVE) necessary to transport the geometric pattern that contains the design of the chips to the silicon wafer. Very broadly, this light source generates UVE radiation using high power lasers capable of instantly heating tens of thousands of tiny tin drops in a single second until they reach a temperature of half a million Celsius degrees. This interaction produces an extremely hot plasma that emits ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm. It looks like a relatively simple strategy, But it is not at all. In fact, the UVE source is one of ASML’s disruptive components. Pat Gelsinger has joined the Xlight team Interestingly, to manufacture avant -garde semiconductors using integration technology less than 7 Nm it is not essential to use an ultraviolet light source like the one I just described. You can also opt for other approaches. The UVE lithography machine prototype that, according to leaks, He is testing Huawei In its Dongguan Laboratory (China), it uses an LDP type ultraviolet light source (laser induced discharge), and not LPP class (plasma generated by laser) like the one used by ASML. Another option requires using a syncrotron -type particle accelerator to generate ultraviolet radiation. This is the path that is following the Chinese Academy of Sciences in The installation that is putting up in Beijing (China). Your heps (High Energy Photon Source or source of high -energy photons) has been designed for Deliver High Power UVE Light simultaneously to several integrated circuit manufacturing plants. However, this is not all. There is at least another option that is also being explored to generate the UVE light. Your plan consists in replacing the ultraviolet light source that ASML uses with a free electrons laser It is precisely the strategy for which the American company Xlight, to which Pat Gelsinger has just addedthe former director general of Intel, as executive president and the Organization for high energy physics with accelerators of Tsukuba (Japan). Of course, each of these organizations works on their own. Whatever your plan consists of replacing the ultraviolet light source that uses ASML with a free or fel electron laser for its English denomination (Free-electron laser) as those used in particle accelerators. In fact, in their tests they are using a fel laser generated by a linear accelerator of energy recovery. In theory the radiation delivered by a Fel laser allows to manufacture integrated circuits with a resolution comparable to that of an ultraviolet light source. A priori sounds good, but it seems reasonable to accept that a fel laser linked to a particle accelerator is not exactly cheap. The reason why some technicians prefer this option to which ASML uses is that a single linear accelerator of energy recovery is able to simultaneously feed several lithography machines. In addition, according to Xlight its Fel laser is designed to feed the next generation of ASML photolithography equipment. In fact, in theory it is four times more powerful than the light source used by this Dutch company in its most advanced machines. According to Gelsinger Xlight technology allows the price to be reduced by wafer by 50% and will achieve a higher wafer performance than current solutions. It sounds good, but we will have to wait until 2028 to know if this proposal is really up to expectations. That year Xlight and ASML hope to try their first Fel laser prototype with a lithography team. Image | Xight More information | Xight In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has been considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It is impossible for a good reason

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